Advance Look at Wizards & Aliens

Imaginative, enchanting, and entertaining, Russell T Davies’ new CBBC series is a fitting successor to The Sarah Jane Adventures…

1.1 & 1.2 Dawn Of The Nekross

From the creative team that brought us the award winning The Sarah Jane Adventures,Wizards vs Aliens arrives laden with far more expectation and attention than your standard CBBC series launch.

Co-created by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies and SJA lead writer Phil Ford,WvA’s pedigree is first-rate, but does its opening adventure, Dawn of the Nekross, deliver on the promise of its brilliantly on-the-nose central conceit?

Thankfully that answer is a resounding ‘yes’, thanks in no small part to a strong script from series co-creator Ford, confident and stylish direction from Daniel O’Hara, and committed performances from series leads Scott Haran and Percelle Ascot.

Following the classic Davies template of bold storytelling filled with striking and memorable images, the series opens with a pre-credits scene involving alien first contact above an ancient stone circle. Neatly bringing together the two elements at the heart of the show – science fiction and magic – in a single sequence, this tease not only sells the central concept of the show, but also the ambition and scale of the piece in one confident brushstroke.

What a great review! We weren’t all that familiar with DOCTOR WHO till Russell Davies showed us what’s what. So even though we’ve felt just a tad too old to be the intended audience for THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES you can bet we’ll be watching WIZARDS & ALIENS and rooting for its success.